Unrest in Waziristan : Dawn
WAZIRISTAN is once again in the news. Every day there are reports of rocket and missile attacks — 45 in one single night recently — the ambush of army conveys, killings of prominent tribal elders including former senator Malik Faridullah and other pro-government tribal elders, demolition and destruction of tribal dwellings and numerous detentions and arrests.
According to government statistics, 300 civilian have been killed and about 800 injured so far while the number of dead army personnel is more than 250 and more than 600 have been injured. Only in July this year, 41 persons were reported killed; 24 by the US-led allied forces and 17 by Pakistani forces.
Recently, the authorities warned the tribesmen not to come near military installations otherwise they could be killed. This has now been followed by the imposition of dusk to dawn curfew in Miranshah and the surrounding areas.
The unfortunate part of this bizarre saga is that despite the government’s claim that the situation is under control and the local population is cooperating with the army, the unrest, which was earlier confined to South Waziristan, has now spread to North Waziristan, and has the potential of spreading to other areas also. The government’s claim is also not tenable as recently it was announced that an additional 4,000 troops will be sent to the area making the total number 74,000 as against the government’s claim that the number of the insurgents is between 70 and 80. Is it not the right time for the government authorities, particularly the army higher-ups (as the governor and the political administration have been sidelined long ago) to pause and reconsider their strategy that has not produced the desired results? If anything, the situation has worsened.
A pertinent question is why is all this happening when before the military action early last year everything was normal and peaceful in the area. The para- military forces that had been in the area since independence were respected. They mingled freely with the tribal population. Similarly the political agent, who was the head of the administration and a venerated figure, was considered by the tribesmen as the custodian of their rights and privileges.
At present, the military personnel dare not come into civilian areas without heavy escort and the political administration is working under the protection of the military. The current situation has been described by an English language daily as comparable to the “pre-independence crackdown” because of its ferocity and bloodletting. Can any one be proud of this state of affairs 58 years after the former colonial power had left the area?
The main reason for the crackdown in Waziristan is the failure of the American and the Afghan forces to control the insurgency on their side of the border particularly in Khost, Paktia, Zabul and Paktika as these provinces have always been the most volatile and nationalist-minded in Afghanistan and have never accepted any foreign presence in their areas — in fact they are violently opposed to foreign presence anywhere in Afghanistan.
To hide their failure the Americans particularly their former ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and their Afghan surrogates had been accusing Pakistan of harbouring hostile elements who had allegedly been launching attacks across the border.
Pakistan as a faithful ally of the Americans had been launching military operation in Waziristan resulting in the killing of hundreds of civilian and military personnel. Even if it is accepted for argument’s sake that some sympathetic elements on our side of the border had been assisting the Afghans to help them get rid of the occupying power, is it not the responsibility of the forces on the Afghan side, who are better equipped than the Pakistani forces, to interdict the so-called infiltrators and destroy them?
Another reason for the failure of the government to pacify the tribesmen is their widely held belief that Pakistan is doing all this only to please the Americans. The Americans have been confirming this themselves through the statements of the former commander of the American forces in Afghanistan General Barno and others including Colonel Crawford, the director of military operation in Afghanistan who recently told a breakfast meeting in Washington that the Pakistani forces were helping to direct artillery fire at suspected hideouts inside Pakistan. Unfortunately the Pakistani government has not been able to dispel this impression.
The other reason for the mistrust of the tribesmen is the frequent flouting of the understandings and agreements that the army authorities had repeatedly reached with the tribal elders. The Shakai agreement, which was signed between the authorities and the tribal elders in April last year, could have been a precursor for better relations, had it not been violated with the killing of Commander Nek Mohammad, his influential host Malik and his two sons. I wish our military had drawn lessons from the British who always avoided killing influential tribesmen as according to them a “dead tribesman is a far more dangerous enemy than a living one.”
The authorities have to understand that the tribesmen put full faith in any understanding that they reach with their interlocutor whether an individual or a group of people. Even now, one’s word is considered as sacrosanct as a written agreement. Once this is flouted or broken, the tribals consider themselves free to go to any lengths to redeem the situation.
The lack of trust in the government was recently voiced by a tribal jirga where the tribesmen vowed that they would not cooperate with the authorities either in maintaining law and order or in the implementation of development work as the government had repeatedly been breaking its promises. A list of Maliks who had been cooperating with the government was circulated with a warning that they would be eliminated unless they withdrew their support from the government. To make the threat a reality, a number of pro-government Maliks including ex Senator Malik Faridullah were assassinated.
Side by side with these negative developments, the tribal elders have been offering pragmatic and positive advice to the corps commander, Peshawar, who is in charge of the operation. He was told that the tribesmen should be taken into confidence before any military action is taken in their area. And no searches of homes particularly where there are womenfolk, should be carried out without the presence of the tribal elders and ulema of the area.
Will the government heed this sanguine advice? I have my doubts. The government’s argument is that they cannot do so as whenever they have told the tribesmen of an action it has been disclosed to the other side. This happens owing to lack of trust to which I have made a reference earlier.
The government has to understand that they can undertake collective territorial responsibility only when the nature of the offence has been disclosed to the elders of the area, and then they are given enough time and full opportunity to apprehend the culprits. If they refuse to do so or are unable to deliver, then the government is free to take punitive action in which the tribal elders would generally participate on the side of the government. The current policy of the government to shoot first and then consult is not working and will not work in the future.
The army can take a lesson from the time-tested mechanism which the British followed in such situations. When the tribal elders failed to persuade the erring tribe to give up the culprits or pay the fine imposed by the government, the political administration would warn the tribesmen, of the area through red-coloured leaflets dropped from aeroplanes that action would be taken after 72 hours and that they should vacate the area.
This warning would be repeated after 24 hours, this time with white leaflets. After the expiry of the deadline, action would be taken to demolish the dwellings of the culprits and arrest them. In many cases the tribesmen would agree to release the kidnapped persons and pay the fine, whatever the case, before the action was initiated. After the desired action, the government would then reconstruct the demolished area and business would resume.
In essence, the problem in Waziristan is the lack of trust and confidence in each other’s word and actions. The interest and involvement of foreign elements has further complicated matters. Unfortunately, the government has, for reasons best known to it, abandoned time-tested methods for dealing with the tribesmen through jirgas consisting of the acknowledged representatives of the people and respected ulema.
At times, the government goes through the motion of holding a jirga but usually after military action has been taken and involving only pro-government elements. In good old days, the government, recognizing that all matters pertaining to the tribal areas, even those of law and order were basically of a political nature would handle it through political authorities under the guidance and supervision of a civilian governor who was designated (and continues to be so) as agent of the central government for the tribal areas. Military action was the last option which the government would consider and that also only after the tribal elders had been taken into confidence and if possible after gaining their support. Even during military action, traditions, customs and the sensitivities of the people were a prime consideration.
Abundant patience is necessary for the success of negotiations with the tribesmen — even if these negotiations drag on for days, until such time that the tribals are exhausted, become impatient and consequently are amenable to accepting some reasonable solution.
The current strategy that the government is pursuing is totally devoid of this important element. Usually one witnesses a high-up going in a helicopter either to Wana or Miranshah and after addressing the jirga of those loyal to the government, hurrying back to Peshawar. Alternatively, the tribesmen are chaperoned to the provincial headquarter, addressed by some high and mighty official, given a meal and then sent back. This is unsatisfactory. The grimness of the current situation proves this abundantly.
The writer is a former ambassador.
posted by India News Watch at 6:38 AM
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